2012 NHL Draft Top 100 – June Update: Yakupov is Unanimous

Aside from Mathew Dumba’s leapfrog of Mikhail Grigorenko, the top 12 in our consensus list remained the same. Nail Yakupov has gone from the strong consensus #1 to the unanimous #1 and Filip Forsberg has lengthened his lead on Alex Galchenyuk, but the list has held steady.

The big movers in June jumped into the back half of the first round. Rogle’s Hamphus Lindholm moved five spots to #16, Oshawa’s Scott Laughton moved 19 spots to #23 and Henrik Samuelsson moved thirteen spots to #30.

Future Considerations describes Lindholm as "…a very aggressive puck rushing defenseman with a high offensive upside. He starts rushes quickly with his high-end skating ability and vision." But with a significant downside, namely, his defensive game: "He makes bad decisions and is not hard enough on the puck. Inconsistent play is the biggest detraction from Lindholm’s game. He can force things and tries to make low percentage passes that turn into odd-man rushes or scoring chances against."

Hockey Prospectus’ Corey Pronman thinks Laughton is "…a quick, smart effective player with an average skill level who is a "does all the little things" type of guy in the lineup and seems to always be around the play." but doesn’t think he projects into the top six in the NHL.

The Scouting Report thinks Samuelsson is a grinder, noting he’s "…a strong complementary player that does the dirty work, but has enough skill to finish off plays as well." But he isn’t going to be an offensive dynamo, "Skating is pretty average, and his offensive puck skills aren’t going to blow you away…"

By this list, the Oilers are slated to take Nail Yakupov and Damon Severson. In all of the projections and predictions I’ve read about the Oilers first two picks, this seems as likely as any. The star forward and the WHL defenseman fit the Oilers’ MO.

The first round by position: 15 forwards, 14 defensemen, 1 goalie, with 8 forwards and 7 defensemen in the top 15.

2012 won’t be remembered as a good year for the Slovaks: the first Slovakian player on the combined list, Daniel Rzavský, checks in at #166.

Though Mikhail Grigorenko fell to #6, I have a hard time believing that Montreal, the Islanders, and Toronto will all pass on the talented Russian. If he does fall that far, Sean Couturier comparisons will begin immediately.

I would love for Samuelsson to be consistently ranked 30th amongst the NHL teams, as it means that, assuming a Devils first round forfeiture, he could very easily be around for the Oilers to pick.

His is the skill set that the team will need in the next few years. And having seen him live over a half-a-dozen times this year, his play in some of the smaller aspects of the game is invaluable. He can be a world-class jerk for opposing teams, and a distraction from his more highly-skilled teammates.

His skating is about average, but he does keep up with the pace of play and, regardless of how quickly, he gets to where he needs to be in order to positively affect the play.

As with the Oilers’ picks, I wonder if they might not try to trade a player like Paajarvi for a pick in the range of Reilly (7th) to Reinhart (10th), and then refocus their efforts on the forward prospects, many of whom have graduated to the AHL this past season.

Intersting to see Collberg in the 14th spot. His was the name that kept coming up around the Flames draft position when I was hunting around online. He would seem to be a good fit.

Lukas Sutter and Valeri Vasiliyev both appear to be in the Flames range for the 3rd round. This could provide an interesting storyline on day two. If Feaster picks Sutter is it Darryl’s draft strategy all over again? If he picks Vasiliyev is it a deliberate break from the Sutter tradition?

Girgensons makes most sense. Maatte would be second for most. Perhaps Lindholm has more upside?

But we seem to like smallish, skilled players. Collberg, if available, may be the pick. But I think we need to get bigger.

As for the later rounds, what about Tom Wilson out of Plymouth? Not saying he’s our first round pick… Not even sure he goes in the latter part of the 1st round… But if we could get a 2nd round pick somehow… He’d be a nice project on RW.

I’ll throw Emil Lundberg’s name into the same discussion – if we could trade for a 2nd… He’d be another interesting project at RW.

Pronman believes Galchenyuk would’ve given Yakupov a run for first overall if not for the knee injury. Taking a guy with so few games played that high is a significant risk, however, so the Oilers aren’t going to take him with a budding star like Yakupov available.

Sorry I was mainly referring to several mock drafts that I follow. Although, I believe the CSS Final North American Skater Rankings had Maataa at 8th. When you count that Forsberg, Teravainen from the European rankings will likely go ahead of him, that puts Maataa at 10th. But I have also seen mock drafts by NHL Team sites where Maataa is right where the Flames are drafting. Could you see Ceci falling to where we are? And do you think the Flames would take a chance on him?

As to the Flames pick – considering the amount of defensemen available so early, the likelihood that some team will break ranks and go after forwards is high. I can see teams like Minnesota, Winnipeg, Tampa, and Washington ditching the idea of taking Rielly, Trouba, Reinhart and Ceci in favor of taking the forwards. Faksa, Collberg, Aberg and Girgensons will look attractive to those teams if they aren’t interested in going with D so early.

If Malcolm Subban goes above 20th I’ll be surprised, but it can only benefit our team as long as we aren’t the ones to take him. If Rielly or Trouba fell to the Flames I would be extrememly surprised though simply because I realize that they are not likely to go in the top 5, but I think that Rielly may be the best defenseman in this draft if not for his injury. I’d be happy with the Flames taking Trouba too. Is he commmited to a certain US College or University as of yet?

Assuming he fell to the Flames, it probably wouldn’t affect their choice of if they were to take him that he is committed to a college even if his path to the NHL takes longer than the usual CHL first rounder. As a fan I’d like to see the first round picks transform into NHL calibre players but one can’t have everything.

With a limited free agent pool this year, I strongly believe there could be a number of teams willing to trade at the draft. With players like Nash and Luongo in play, and after the top 3 or 4 players (draftees), there is no guarantee who will be available at what pick.

Barring any trades, Flames would look good picking Gergensons or Ceci.

The Flames and, especially, Oilers can’t lose in the first round this year.
Yakupov is going to be another star to add to RNH, Hall, Eberle.

For the Flames getting Faksa (doubtful), Girgensons (yes please) or Gaunce (like his playmaking and shot) to center Baertchi and Ferland (possibly as Iggy will be retired soonish and Neimez won’t be first line RW) in the near future would be great.

Sam Cosentino has been very high on Samuelsson for a few months now and seemed adamant the other day that he had played himself into 1st round consideration following the Memorial Cup.

I understand the Niemenen comparison, but from what I have seen and everything I have read on Samuelsson, I think his overall ceiling might be higher (not simply by points).

He has spent a good portion of his career thus far skating with and against older players, and I’m not sure if this has falsely inflated his level of ability or not, relative to other junior players.

Which “swing for the fences” players do you have in mind? Should I assume you mean Frk? Wilson, Schmaltz and Bystrom all seem like they might be available as well. While Frk seems to have been a forgotten man this spring (considered a top 10 pick last spring, I believe). His scouting report seems to have many similarities to Samuelsson (agitator) but with more emphasis on offensive ability.

Strange there are no players off the Memorial Cup winning Shawinigan Cataractes in the top 100.
IMHO the Oilers need to trade #1 for a top 3 defender and position themselves to take Grigorenko, the big power centerman they are missing. Throw in Gagner if u have to and make it a #1 defenceman.

not really all that strange. They only have 3 players with ’94 birthdays before the cut off/’93 birthdays after the cut off (somewhere in september… 15th?). Of those three, Justin Hache is the best, and he’s really not great. One or 2 of them might be drafted in the late rounds (6th and 7th) or they might not.

There are also 1 or 2 players passed over last draft, but those players tend to get overlooked a lot (like London’s Seth Griffith for example, who should have been drafted last year but wasn’t for some reason).